Dead Girl Walking
by sirli
Summary: Set in NM. Edward has left and Bella drowns. But Alice has a vision that gives hope. So the Cullens go out to find a mysterious vampire that could save Bella. Ghost whisperer has demands of her own... Marcus later.


DEAD GIRL WALKING.

Chapter 1: Despair and hope

ALICE POV

"I'm telling you - there is a way!" I shouted at Edward who was just about to go mad with grief, agony and lots of self-loathing. This might be somewhat tolerable if we could only cry...

"How? She's dead! Bella, my Bella… dead… We got here too late!" he told me and lowered his head in defeat. Edward was broken, but I'm not. I'm not going to give up. No death can stand in the way of true love if I can do something about it.

I took a deep breath. Here goes nothing. „I had a vision. Of Bella waking up."

Silence.

The room seemed to grow bigger and smaller at the same time. They all stared at me. And I couldn't help to fear that they all might think the same – once crazy, always crazy. It makes me really uncomfortable. By now they should know better than to bet against me! So I have to hurry on before losing my momentum.

"I know how it sounds, but hear me out. I saw another vampire by her side. She was holding Bella and telling her to wake up. And then – then she did."

My family was pondering. Jasper was standing right beside me. He was working hard on giving out positive energy. This wasn't easy on any of us. We all came back to Forks few hours ago. On Edward's desperate pleading we stole Bella's dead body from the morgue. He was far from letting her go. Literally. I **know** he can never let her go or except that she really had tried to kill herself.

Edward was staring at me. Probably reading my mind about the vision. So I played it all out for him. It wasn't much, but beggars can't be choosers, right?

Finally, it was Edward to break the silence. "So she wasn't bitten, not that it would do anything good now. Bella was as if called back. Her soul was put back into her body." He wrinkled his brow in deep thought. "Carlisle – is that even possible? You've lived the longest. Have you heard anything about this?"

Our Father was sitting on the sofa and staring blankly at a wall. Edward was intently focusing on his thoughts, but Carlisle spoke aloud for the sake of the rest of us. "I don't know anything specific. In fact, I've always thought it is nothing more than a myth! It's too unrealistic. But… As three of my own children have special talent, why couldn't that be hers?"

"Speak English! Who's 'she'? What talent?" Emmett asked in frustration.

Carlisle woke from his deep thoughts and started again in much clearer voice. "When I was just a young vampire in England I met a friend Alistair. He spoke to me about the Volturi. It was the first time for me to hear about them. You all know the brothers. What is important is that Alistair is extremely suspicious of them. Fears them beyond what we might think is logical. So when he mentioned a vampire banished from Volterra City for her talent… I didn't take him seriously."

"What's her talent you speak of?" Rosalie asked, but from the sound of it I guessed everybody already knew or at least imagined.

"Alistair said that this vampire could see the souls of the dead, talk to them and even bring them back to life," Carlisle answered! She was a danger to the Volturi, or so Alistair claimed. She used to take the souls out of their human bodies before the vampires could feed and that made their blood taste lake its dead, even though it was still warm and flowing in their veins. She used to go around the city trying to wake the dead and by that she gathered sort of the undead army."

"She creates zombies?" I asked in disbelief. That can't be! I saw Bella fully human-like!

"I don't know," Carlisle sighed. "It's just a rumor. I don't even know if she really exists. I only told you what Alistair told me. What he **thinks** of her."

But Edward, who no doubt had heard much more than just out words, was excited. "We have to try. Of there is a way, **any way** – we have to find that vampire and tell her to help Bella."

Jasper by my side inhaled rather tiredly. "Please don't get so hyped up. It's good to feel something more than just your own death-wishes, but… We have to think about all of this. What if Bella can be brought back to life, but only as a zombie, not as herself?"

"Shut up" Edward hissed. "I don't care. We have to give it a chance! We don't have anything to loose!"

For a while all of us looked highly uncomfortable. I knew everyone thought here that Edward had it wrong – Bella wouldn't want to be a walking corpse like the zombies in Hollywood movies. But at the same time we were all quilt-ridden as well. Bella had jumped off a cliff with every intention of ending her life. And we all felt to be blamed for that. If we only wouldn't have left her here all alone, miserable, helpless, then…

Finally, Esme was the first to wake from the stillness. "Before we go any further and let out hopes get ahead of reality, we must make sure the legend of that woman is even true. And if so, we must find her. If she really is hiding from the Volturi, and by how little we all know about her miraculous talent, from the entire vampire-world, it can't be easy to find her."

"True," Carlisle continued while absently rubbing his wife's back. "But for these questions I know who can answer. Alistair himself. He can tell us more about that woman. And also find her. Alistair's talent is to find things. Sort of."

"That's convenient," Emmett snorted and laughed a little.

"What do you mean by 'sort of'?" Edward asked.

"Well, Alistair is a total hermit. He avoids vampires and the ones from the Volturi especially. His talent is exactly that – avoidance. Alistair always has a sense of **where not to go**, to go the opposite side of danger. But it can be used the other way too. If he would really be afraid of that zombie-making vampire, he surely gets an instinct to go to the opposite direction of where she is. And this will head us to her."

"It wouldn't do us any good if he just escapes towards North Pole. South is too big of a ground to cover, "Jasper mused getting into his old self.

"Yes, well I'm hoping he'd help us a little more. As far as I know I am his only friend. He does own me a favor or two. Maybe I'd get him to travel with us. I can't be sure to count on it, but maybe I'd get him to go against his fears; to travel towards what his mind is telling him to avoid," Carlisle explained further.

We all agree that this might work. But all of it makes any sense only if that unknown vampire truly exists and if she's even still alive. Then we'd have to work on getting Alistair to help us to find her. And if we get that far, we have to ask that she-vampire to help Bella. If it all works out that way, we'll have to cross our fingers and hope for the best. Oh boy. It wasn't easy to leave Forts the first time. But this now seems like a true punishment for our betrayal of her. We have to do this. We have to succeed.

"So. We are going to England," Emmett shouted out with his booming voice. For the first time since hearing about Bella's 'accident' he sounded remotely as joyful as he usually did.

Carlisle spoke up. "It would be better to go with as little party as possible. I told you – Alistair is a hermit. All of us together might frighten him. Also, we can't leave Bella's body here alone. If they find out at the hospital that her body is missing, it might mean police investigation. Maybe we could move her to Denali and only Edward and I will go to Alistair."

Edward nodded along. "Yes. We should move her to a safer place. I can't take her to England and then to wherever Alistair directs me. It will be hard to leave her, but she'll be better off with the Denali sisters."

"But I should come too," Jasper told them. "If he is as uncooperative as Carlisle indicated Alistair might be, I could make him feel more secure and willing to help. Plus, when we find that other vampire, I can help with convincing her to work for our cause too."

I could see the truth in his words. Jasper with his empathy powers would be priceless for this mission. But so would I.

"And is this some boys-only thing? I can help, you all know I can," I told them.

Edward and Carlisle exchanged a look and my brother nodded. Then he said: "Yes, the four of us will go. Carlisle thinks all of our talents might come in handy while still being somewhat tolerable number. We have to book tickets to the first flight to London. Esme, can you take care of that? And then you, Rosalie and Emmett can take Bella to Alaska," he told our mother.

"Why can't I come? I want to help bringing Bella back too," Emmett couldn't help not to complain.

Esme rose to put a hand on his broad shoulder. "Your help will be to make sure Bella's soul has a good body to come back to, honey."

All of us agree with Edward's plans and we took to prepare for leaving. It amazed me how Edward had pulled himself together. When I told them about Bella almost 36 hours ago, he was devastated to put it mildly. He was lost. But now, when he sees a ray of hope, he is a different man. Edward once again has a purpose. He is able to put his pain on hold to do what he can to make things right. I know it sort of killed my brother to leave Bella after what happened on her 18th birthday. And if my vision doesn't come to be he will surely lose the last of what's holding him alive. His love is truly that deep. Edward can't bear to walk this earth when Bella doesn't. I know he'd find a way to commit suicide just like Bella did. So, to save both him and her, we must succeed.

"I'll help you back," Rosalie told me as she suddenly appeared by my side.

"Thanks. You're all done already?" I asked her as we stuffed some clothes for me and Jazz. I had been deep in thought and therefore wasted some time.

"Yes. And Emmett is out preparing his Jeep for Bella. Edward is in the kitchen. Saying goodbye."

And then I could hear his whispers and sobs. I felt such sadness for his pain. Edward was holding her and promising this would be the very last time he has to leave her side.

Then we met up at the living room with the rest of our family. Carlisle and Esme were saying their goodbyes, Emmett and his mate Rose stood together by the door looking mortified by all the sadness in the faces of our loved ones. Jasper in fact had chosen to wait by the outside by the car, all the emotions together being to much for him to handle.

"So, all is settled. You have a flight from Seattle to New York and from there to London. Carlisle has the confirmation numbers," Esme informed us.

"It will be cloudy, but not too much in New York," I told them trying what I could to help. "And you'll get to Denali without any trouble."

"Thank you, dear," Esme said. "Well…" she drifted off as no one of us quite knew how to approach the matter of moving Bella's body. The Jeep had the most room on the backseat, so she'd be laying there for the travel cross country.

"I'll take her," Edward said sadly. He went back to the kitchen. Our enormous refrigerator was placed sideways on the floor, all empty shelves taken out. Our beautiful and loved Bella lay in there – her lips are blue and her limbs are frozen in death. Edward lifted her and although she was as stiff as a stone, they still looked beautiful together. Destined to be together.

Emmett took the wheel, Rose by his side. Esme sat in the back with Bella's head in her lap. Our mother looked absolutely devastated as she stroked the long brown hair of her third daughter.

"If her body starts to warm up too much, you have to cool her down, Esme," Carlisle instructed his wife sadly. "She mustn't start to…" he fell silent. Nobody wanted to use the word 'rot' or even 'decompose' on Edward's company. I'm sure he knew it, but he was just staring at her from the open door and didn't react in any way.

"Ok. You better start going now," I told them. I took a brave breath and shut the door in Edward's face. He didn't even blink. "Don't worry, Edward. This is not the end for you two," I told my brother. His face twisted in pain. I could see the tears – the endless stream of tears – he would shed if he only possible.

He simply nodded. Emmett stated the Jeep and picked up the speed without wasting any time. Carlisle led Edward to the black Mercedes and seated him on the backseat with my Jasper. He put a hand on Edward's shoulder and instantly we all felt much calmer yet more determined too.

"Time to go," Carlisle whispered and I closed my eyes in search of a helpful vision.


End file.
